Justin Balboa plans to have Joe Schilling prosecuted for viral barroom knockout

Justin Balboa, who was knocked out by Joe Schilling in a recent barroom brawl, intends to prosecute Schilling in court.

In recent days video footage has emerged of Balboa, who was clearly intoxicated, being knocked out cold by Schilling – a former GLORY and Bellator fighter. Schilling has claimed it was self defense, putting out the following now-deleted post on Instagram.

“Little context: This guy’s rapping like an idiot,” Schilling wrote. “The buss boy who happens to be black walks by, and this idiot bumps into him and screams out, ‘Me and broke n****s, we don’t get along.’ The busboy was seriously offended but doesn’t want to lose his job. As the night goes on, this clown starts looking at me and rapping whatever song is being played while making eye contact with me. I’m like, what’s wrong with this idiot? I go outside to smoke and as I’m walking back in, he bumps into me. I put my hand out to catch him. He immediately says ‘I’m sorry.’ You can see me nod my head like, cool.

Footage emerged of former GLORY Tournament Champion & Bellator fighter Joe Schilling assaulting a man in a bar dispute. The fighter took it to social media and claims it was self-defense, during a "life-threatening experience". pic.twitter.com/cybXpPJWFT

— Beyond Kickboxing (@Beyond_Kick) June 28, 2021

“Then he realizes it’s me, the guy he’s been rapping at all night and yells, ‘HEY.’ I turn around, and he flexes on me. … Bad decisions are made every day. I went back and sat down to finish my drink and pay my bill. Two servers, the busboy and DJ came up to thank me. As you can see from this video when he flexed on me, I was scared for my life and simply defending myself against the evil in this world.”

Balboa’s lawyer released the following statement in response, as per MMA Junkie, after it was confirmed that Balboa wants to “prosecute” Schilling after watching the video again whilst speaking with the police.

“It should not have happened,” Solomon said. “You watch that video and you cringe. This is a professional fighter. To tell me you felt threatened as a professional fighter that’s fighting in the highest level of all the fighting, Bellator and all these things, I don’t buy it. I think it was uncalled for, and there’s consequences when you do things like that.

“I think a professional fighter overreacted to a situation, that he didn’t need to do what he did, and to punch somebody as hard as he punched this guy, he’s lucky he’s not dead and we’re dealing with a different type of case.”

What are your thoughts on this incident? Let us know in the comments, BJPENN Nation!